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Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops: Bilateral dialogue holds biannual meeting

JCR| 31.12.2017

Tuesday, December 05 2017 - The national bilateral dialogue of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus met for its biannual meeting on 29 November 2017 at the Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Montreal.

One representative from the Catholic as well as the Jewish tradition presented a reflection on Psalm 23. The dialogue members then shared and discussed their approaches and interpretations for reading and praying the Psalms, in order to discover both the commonalities and the differences in their respective approaches. A culminating moment of the joint study came with the singing of Psalm 23 in both Hebrew and French.

The second half of the meeting involved two additional presentations. The Jewish representatives reflected on Israel as a theological/historical/contemporary political reality, and the Catholic representatives shared a reflection on the nature and mission of the Catholic Church. All the members of the dialogue engaged in a rich discussion and reflection on the two presentations. Catholic and Jewish members were deeply grateful for the gracious, engaged and reverent listening demonstrated by all the participants as they sought greater understanding and knowledge of one another's religious tradition.

The dialogue is scheduled to meet again in May 2018. The bilateral dialogue was inaugurated by the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the seminal document of the Second Vatican Council which transformed Catholic relations with the Jewish people. The dialogue is considered a sign of the mutual esteem and friendship between the Jewish and Catholic faiths in Canada and abroad.